


The Dawn and the Stars

by Corinne_Nohrule



Series: The Archipelago’s Mythos [6]
Category: Fire Emblem Series
Genre: Ephraim and Eirika make cameos on this, Gen, Philippine Folklore AU, Philippine Mythology/History AU, They’re siblings because of how easily they fit in the roles with their motifs., This one stars Micaiah and Byleth as Hanan and Tala respectively
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-30
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:35:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27285769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Corinne_Nohrule/pseuds/Corinne_Nohrule
Summary: The sisters of the Sun and Moon have lived long, and unlike them, have raised families that still have descendants, however handful they are. The Dawn and the Stars both recount the every chapter in their long lifespans, some intertwined with history, others being personal memories.
Relationships: Byleth/???, Micaiah/Pelleas (Fire Emblem)
Series: The Archipelago’s Mythos [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1908481
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	The Dawn and the Stars

**Author's Note:**

> So here’s a story divided into two chapters, focusing on Micaiah and Byleth, whom I decided are sisters in this AU. I’ve already written about Ephraim and Eirika in the fic Solar and Lunar, so now it’s the younger sisters’ turn.
> 
> In the original Radiant Dawn game, Micaiah’s the descendant of Altina, but here, it’s now the other way around (but Sanaki and her grandma remain to be Altina’s descendants—-just that Micaiah’s now the founding ancestor).
> 
> Enjoy this new addition! :)

Micaiah, looking back at the yesterdays that she lived through, realized that her current situation was never something she thought of beforehand.

Prior to this, she lived a very different life from the mortals that surrounded her, one that had her performing duties higher than theirs. Micaiah was in charge of welcoming the sunrise at the east, using her the power in her hands to bring the first light of the morning. A welcome spark, one that encouraged the people to take on the new days that followed. She was also instrumental in giving change to anyone who wished to have a new beginning; the prayers sent to her were meant to guide them in people’s transition to big shifts in life.

Including those years onward when the people no longer actively worshipped her or her siblings.

Micaiah remembered when she was Hanan, Goddess of Dawn; she recalled resting up at the sky, which was the domain where she often rested. Her eyes, golden ones that matched the light she had control over, looked down at the daily goings-on of the tribes near the riversides. Her brother Apolaki was the one who was in charge of keeping the land alight after her job to bring the initial spark, so Hanan only had to listen for prayers needing her help. At the night, her sisters Mayari and Tala were in charge of keeping the sky bright in the dark. Yet still Hanan could hear people’s dreams of a new start.

Her name was praised when unions between couples were formed, a new bond formed between two people being a blessing in itself. She heard whispers of reverence in her ear when newborns were welcomed to the world. Every beginning, she was present to witness them all.

———————————————————————

When the colonizers came around, she and her siblings were left almost to obscurity.

It was a long, torturous process, but eventually the gods began to notice how they couldn’t hear the prayers to their names anymore. With their reverence diminishing, they faced no other choice but to live among the mortals to survive. Living among their subjects was certainly better than almost being hunted down by the invaders, whose guns and cannons proving to be a challenge for them. Those invaders would do anything to make the natives convert, even if it meant killing a pagan god or two to make a statement.

With Hanan, when she settled, she took on the name Micaiah. A Christian name, one that sounded right to her ears, but her heart became somber from the fact that she wouldn’t go by Hanan anymore. Still, her body remained immortal, her memories and powers still in her grasp, though it wasn’t as powerful from when she was a goddess full-time.

Though, human life wasn’t as bad as she thought; Micaiah did find a new beginning with someone, a man named Pelleas, one of the sacristans who accompanied the Spanish priests in their evangelical missions. Pelleas retired from the religious order to marry her, and by all accounts, their marriage was a happy one.

Micaiah remembered their only daughter, Altina, and how she often played outside as a child. Micaiah could see her smile, a distant memory in her head, but it was just as radiant like when she witnessed it in person. Her siblings, who took on new aliases of their own, often visited to play with Altina, and she loved the company of her uncle and aunts.

One time, Altina mentioned how her Tio Ephraim had held literal light in his hands, and curious as to how it worked, she asked her mother this.

“Mama, I saw Tio Ephraim holding light in his hands—-it was on his palm, and even I got to touch it too! How does he do it?”

Micaiah responded, albeit cautiously, that her brother was a magician. A skilled one who was way ahead of his time.

“I see...maybe he can teach me some of his secrets!” Altina only skipped along on the yard afterwards, oblivious to the near-horrified look her mother had.

“Yes...go to your Tio; he can play with you for a while.” Micaiah watched Altina heading onwards to the porch where Tio Ephraim and Tia Eirika were chatting.

What Micaiah answered wasn’t a lie, but it kept the truth buried. If Altina ever spoke of that aloud to everyone else, the Catholic friars wouldn’t show mercy to her, or their family.

“Micaiah?”

She turned to see Pelleas, well-kept as ever in his barong, gently smiling at her. Her lips released a gasp, then a nervous chuckle, trying to hide the tension in her bones.

“Pelleas...” Micaiah rose up to meet his gaze. Hands rested on his shoulders, and lungs released a breath she didn’t know she was holding. “You’re always a welcome presence.”

His grin remained, and he leaned his head forward, letting it rest on his wife’s shoulder. “Of course. What kind of presence would I be if I can’t be the comforting kind for my love?”

Heading Pelleas’s words eased the fear that began to build up within. She managed to remind herself that this new kind of life she’s living is something that she, together with her husband and her daughter, could manage. Micaiah felt strength return, assured that all will be fine.

——————————————————-

Pelleas was the first to pass on in the little family they had, and he wasn’t even in his golden years yet. Micaiah had grieved for several months after his funeral, but to her, it was only mere days since she lost him. Immortality was an advantage as she couldn’t completely die by the whims of mortality.

Yet, living forever had proved to carry the curse of losing the one she loved.

Once Altina had children of her own, Micaiah silently disappeared from the picture, only watching her family’s growth from afar. The pain of watching her mortal loved ones eventually withering away was something she didn’t want to experience again, not after her first bout of grief from losing Pelleas. There weren’t plenty of beings like her, and even if her family did inherit some of her divinity, they were vulnerable to the clutches of death.

Her descendants all had those vibrant golden eyes, which were inherited from her own. The golden eyes meant that they had the heritage of a deity, one that embodied the dawn and its color.

—————————————————

Micaiah wasn’t one to participate in revolts, but in the years she didn’t spend with her mortal family, she took part in the many battles the land faced in the name of freedom.

Her brother and sisters were there, and her older sister Eirika especially was adamant in seeing these battles to the end. It was retribution, a satisfying kind after all the years they had to hide.

During one of their campaigns, Micaiah thought that she saw someone, a guerilla member, with eyes of vibrant gold. She remained still as she watched him move; he carried himself with great bearing, and from the way her younger sister Byleth said, ‘I sense something from him...something unmistakably divine.’ Micaiah was left with no doubt.

The man eventually noticed her staring, and approached her to ask. “Are you alright, señorita? You’ve been staring blankly for a minute there.”

Micaiah jumped a bit from his words, and so gave her apology. “Forgive me...but I thought you were someone else.”

The man eventually gave a polite nod to this, and as he turned to leave, the first thoughts of returning to her mortal family fostered in her mind.

—————————————————

Then after years of being separated from the clan that she made, Micaiah did come back to them. The clan now went by the surname Altina, in honor of her daughter. From there she learned that only two descendants remained: Misaha, and her granddaughter Sanaki. There was something in her that wanted her family to live on. A feeling of protectiveness, and the desire to make up for the years lost drove her to push through this new chapter of her long life.

So she introduced herself to Misaha, and pleaded with the older woman to adopt her into their family.

Her youthful looks did prove to be an advantage; Misaha took pity on this ‘homeless’ teenaged girl, and so wasted no time in taking her in. What also helped was that with her golden eyes, Micaiah had an easy time blending in with them as well.

At first, Sanaki was curious as to why this older girl had an interest in their family in particular. She didn’t seem too keen on Micaiah’s presence, and there were days that she went out of her way to remain in her room out of that desire to steer clear of Micaiah’s view.

That is, until the accident that nearly claimed the last of the clan.

In what was supposed to be an ordinary trip to the province, a mishap from the bus driver had the vehicle tumbling down across the side of the road. Misaha held on to both Micaiah and Sanaki as the gravity threatened to pull them into the tumbling movement. Screams resounded within the bus’s chamber as it went in circles, until it all stopped when it reached the side of the river.

After a few hours of being unconscious, Micaiah slowly got up from her position in the now-haphazard insides of the bus. The poles, seats and supports were all in shambles; the passengers laid in various positions, wounds present on their faces and limbs. Micaiah checked on her foster family; Misaha was alright, despite being close to the window’s shards. But Sanaki...her forehead bled profusely, almost coating it in crimson. Trails of blood darkened her face, and her breaths were shallow from both shock and bleeding.

“Sanaki...!” Micaiah gasped, using one of the garments that were tossed over to clean up the bleeding, though it appeared the wound was bigger that it seemed, as it didn’t stop. She began to panic—-if Sanaki bled any further, her life would...

Micaiah shook her head; there was no time to lose. It appeared that there was only one thing she had to do now.

“It’s been a while since I used them, but here it goes...” With a raise of her arm, light gathered in the palm of Micaiah’s hand. The bright light shone amidst the dim space of the bus wreck, and in an instant, Micaiah swung her arm down to cast it against Sanaki’s forehead. The light’s healing power done its work closing the wounds of not just her younger sister, but also the rest of the passengers who were heavily injured. Sighs of relief and gratitude resonated in the wreck, as the passengers managed to stand up on their feet to get out. Micaiah’s power was strong in its effect, but it also began to wear on her a bit, from how Micaiah’s eyes started to droop slightly from the effort.

Once Sanaki’s eyes slowly opened, that’s when Micaiah put her powers to a stop briefly, and watched as her sister regained consciousness.

“Wh...what...” Sanaki groaned, rubbing her now-clean face. “Micaiah? What happened...?”

Micaiah only kept stroking Sanaki’s hair, deep breaths masking just how relieved she was. “A crash is what happened, Sanaki—-you were injured, but...I’m glad you’re alright now.”

“I felt something warm on me...it was relaxing.” Sanaki described, her hand outstretched slightly. “I wonder where it came from?”

Just then, light crept into the crevices of the bus’s shattered windows, golden in color. It’s warmth reached to shine on Misaha, Micaiah and Sanaki, and the light drew them to look outside.

The sun was rising up on the horizon. Dawn had come to greet them to say hello to a new day after they survived yesterday’s accident.

Micaiah’s golden eyes radiated by her power, and she raised her hand, guiding the dawn’s light to go up a bit higher. She had only done this sparingly since her descent to live with the mortals, but it felt so nice to take control of her godly powers again.

Sanaki turned to look at Micaiah, leaning against her arm in search of comfort, to which the latter willingly gave.

——————————————

“Hey, Ate Mika?”

Sanaki’s voice pierced into Micaiah’s head, ending her train of thought.

“Yeah, Sanaki?”

“Why did you choose our family? There are richer clans out there who would be willing to take pity on you, and certainly far bigger. Here, it’s only me and Lola Misa.” Sanaki inquired, leaning against the armrest of the porch chair. “For me, I think it’s weird that you would go to us, and only us.”

Micaiah only smiled, watching the sunrise from her seat. “This is where my family is, where my beginning took place.” The sun’s rays further rose up, both watching with contentment.

“You weren’t born at the time Sanaki, but for this clan, I’m the one who formed it.”

Sanaki took the time to weigh in the fact that it wasn’t a joke, especially from how serious her sister sounded. “When?”

“A long time ago...it was a brand new beginning in that part of my life I won’t forget.”


End file.
